


Scrub Shirts and Police Badges

by reed_ashlyn_e



Category: E.R.
Genre: Angst, F/M, Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-01
Updated: 2017-09-03
Packaged: 2018-12-09 15:03:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,955
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11671503
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/reed_ashlyn_e/pseuds/reed_ashlyn_e
Summary: John Carter has a blast from the past come in and he must face the facts and realize that college is far behind him...or is it?





	1. Chapter 1

I do not understand what this part is for...an introduction or the first chapter?

1

The first night Carter was on call as an intern, the hospital seemed empty. He had been there countless nights before and now it seemed like the halls were barren, all he could hear was the air conditioner, and the usual onion and bleach smell was now replaced with an orange and citrus scent. The nurses were at their station reading magazines and listening to the radio, but he didn't want to bother them with any boring conversations. That was when he decided to go and catch some sleep, at least now he was hoping for sleep after the nurses had already played their pranks earlier. He walked into the dark room and brushed his hair out of his face while he turned on the light to see what he was doing. He laid down and turned off the light, that was when he caught himself yawning, and then he felt very lonely. Carter hated feeling lonely. He pulled his new lab coat tighter around him and closed his eyes, he wanted to at least imagine what his graduation was like.

One hour had passed while he was asleep and Carter felt like he was tossing and turning way too much. He realized he couldn't sleep and went to walk around, maybe get some exercise in. He walked to the lounge and contemplated getting a cup of coffee, but then decided he wanted something a little lighter. He grabbed some change from his locker and walked to the vending machines, he nearly cringed at the noise of the C-PAP machines and all of the ventilators. Carter actually took the time thinking about what he wanted, then he decided on a banana nut muffin and a sprite. He put in his change and got both of his items and walked back to the lounge. He sat down on the couch and opened the muffin, but then his stomach flipped and he realized he did not want to eat the muffin, but it was perfectly good. He opened the sprite to calm his stomach a little and walked to the nurses station, "Good morning ladies, does anyone want this muffin? I just opened it and realized that I did not want it," he explained sipping on his drink.

Lydia raised her hand and he smiled, "Banana nut," he said handing it to her. She smiled, "It is like you can read my mind." She said taking a bite. "Oh that is a good muffin," she moaned. Haleh rolled her eyes, "You are crazy," she said never taking an eye off of her magazine. Carter spoke up, "Almost nuts, maybe?" he made a joke referring to the muffin. Everyone shook their heads and then the radio went off. Lydia jumped up and answered, "Yep. Uh huh, we will be ready," she said before putting the muffin on the counter and looking to Carter. "MVA, the patient is a police officer, she was T-Boned while on her way home. The other guy is coming in too, DUI." He nodded and ran to get a yellow scrub cover, then the goggles. He got back to the door and in came the patients. "Police officer, T-Boned at an intersection. She is unconscious and her BP is 90 over 60, pulse is 170, she is in shock. Two liters of O2 in the field, 15 milliliters of morphine, and two bags saline. She's losing blood quickly," the paramedic said. Carter looked down at the officer and gulped, "Trauma one, how's the other guy?" "Couple of broken ribs and some cuts, he's fine though." Carter nodded and they got the officer into the room. 

He took a moment to think and then began, "Let's get an O2 mask going, she seems to be able to breathe. She's got good breath sounds in both lungs, let's get as much O-neg as we can up here. Hang some saline too, and administer some epi, we will have to get plastics down here to look at her wounds. We need to stop that bleeding and see how bad of a gash we are dealing with," he peeled back the bandage and winced, "Okay it looks pretty deep. Wait, there is something in the blood," he looked closer. "That is fecal matter. We have a ruptured bowel, she needs and OR now," he said to the nurses. They called and a minute later they were whisking her upstairs. Carter then went over to the next room where the man who wrecked into her was. "We gave him something for the pain and stitched his cuts, he can leave when the meds wear off, he's fine," Haleh said holding the ice pack to the man's head. "We also gave him fluids for the alcohol," Carter nodded. "You ladies are perfect, thank you," he said ripping his gloves, scrub cover, and goggles off. They smiled and said, "We know," before he walked out. 

He walked past the nurses station and called out, "Page me if you need me!" before making his way to the elevators to get up to the viewing room to see how the officer's surgery was going. He sat down and sighed, "I do believe Doctor Carter made the right call here," he smirked at himself for the compliment from the surgeon. Then he got a little more comfortable and watched, every cut, every suction, every irrigation, every suture. There was something about the officer that nagged at him, like he knew her from somewhere before. But it wasn't like he knew her now, like it was in a past life. Carter never really believed in that kind of stuff, but sometimes his grandmother would talk about it and it would stick in his mind. He found himself propped up on his legs while chewing on his nails, he couldn't take his eyes away. It was nearly four hours later when she was closed back up and they were wheeling her to recovery. He ran downstairs and caught the surgeon just in time, "So how did her surgery go?" "Very well, I am expecting a full recovery." That was all he said before Carter turned on his heel and practically ran to the nurses station.

He skidded around the corner and slammed his hands on the desk, "She is going to be fine, the officer." All of the nurses cheered and Lydia turned him to look at all of the other officers in the waiting room. "Go tell them that," she said pushing him towards the door. He opened it and everyone stood up, then he felt intimidated. "I was not her surgeon, just the ER doc that sent her to the operating room, but I talked to the surgeon and she is expected to make a full recovery," he told them all with a smile. They all cheered and clapped and a few of them wiped at their eyes. They all thanked him and he walked out, "Now I am going to try and catch some sleep, wake me up if anything happens or if I am needed." They nodded and he walked to the little dark room yet again, this time he actually wanted to sleep. 

The whole time Dr. Carter was trying to sleep, he couldn't get his mind off of the patient from earlier. It bothered him that he did not know her name and that he didn't even know her rank. After about two hours of tossing and turning, wondering who the mystery brunette was, he got up and walked to recovery. When he got there he saw that she was awake, but heavily medicated and all of the other officers were half asleep around her. Carter felt almost nervous walking up to her bed but one of the officers moved out of his way so he could look at her chart. He half smiled and walked through the pool of officers and found her chart at the foot of her bed, "Hey Doc, you think you could translate any of that?" One of the officers asked. He nodded and skimmed over it looking for a name. His heart skipped a beat when he read it, Jill Malone. "That's where I know her from," he whispered to himself. "What's that, Doc?" He looked up and shook his head, "Oh nothing, just translating this myself," he said in a nervous chuckle. 

"Well it seems that Miss Malone here has suffered a large gash in her bowel system, they repaired it easily and the cut along her stomach is very big but they have that under control. She does have some whiplash, and she has a minor concussion, but a full recovery is expected. She does need a lot of rest right now though," he was hoping that would make the officers leave so he could talk to her in private. "So should we leave?" One of the other ones asked, Carter immediately nodded, "It would be best. You can come back tomorrow during visiting hours though. We will keep a very close eye on her, you don't have to worry," he said with a genuine smile. The officers stood up and shook his hand before leaving. Carter looked at his watch, 4:29 AM. He sighed, he still had two and a half hours before anyone else got there for their shifts. When they left he sat down next to the bed and studied how much Jill had changed since college. Then she groaned, "Hey Jill, it's me. John Carter, do you remember me from junior and senior year?" She nodded. "Okay good, don't talk. Do you want more pain meds?" Jill shook her head NO and he nodded. "You are doing great, how is your pain?" She groaned again and he took that as a sign to secretly up her meds. "I am just going to check your saline real quick," he said going over to her IV pole and opening the morphine line a little more. He walked back to her chart and wrote down what he did and sat back down.

When he sat down and watched her slowly fall asleep again, all of the reasons he loved her in college came flooding back. He remembered watching her study and the way she would hum while reading and chewing on her pen. He remembered when she would walk through the yard and mumble Shakespeare to herself, when she seemed like the only ray of sunshine on the rainiest of days. He smiled to himself and grabbed her hand, he was silently thanking the god above him that she was not wearing a ring. After a while of reminiscing and wondering how much she would actually want to talk to him, he stood up and shook his head. "But how much do you remember about me?" He whispered before walking out of the room and towards the ER.


	2. 2

2  
He made it to the nurses station and sighed, he put his elbows on the counter and rested his head in his hands. Dr. Weaver came rushing up to him, he could tell it was her by the familiar clicking on the floor of her crutch. "Doctor Carter, how long have you been on?" She asked, obviously seeing the sleepiness and disheveled hair. "Since seven yesterday morning, I am on until six tonight and then I go home," he said with a little reassurance at the end. "Go get some coffee into your system, you look like you have been thinking way too hard Johnny Boy," Dr. Ross said coming around the corner. "Your assumption is correct, I have been thinking a little too hard." "About what?" Mark Greene said interrupting them both. "Earlier, a police officer came in, she was in a wreck. I dated her in college, thought she was the love of my life. Then she went to the academy and I went to med school and we split. Seeing her on the operating table just kind of got to me." He shrugged before going to get some coffee. 

"Whoa whoa whoa, you just worked on an ex from college and you feel something about it? Mark, what's that word, like fate but better?" "Uh serendipity?" Mark scratched the top of his head and Doug snapped his fingers, "Yes! So how is she?" "Well she was uh t-boned, and she is stable now so I guess she is fine," Carter said before trying to escape the situation.

He quickly walked to the lounge to get some coffee and grabbed two mugs instead of just one, he made his and then he made one for Jill, it was as if it was his second nature to make her coffee when he thought about her. Sometimes he even caught himself making a cup like hers when he missed her, it made him feel like she was there and was right next to him, sipping on her sweet coffee. He took the mugs to recovery and was surprised to see her sleeping, he sat down next to her and frowned, "Let's get that tube out," he said standing up. He could see in her expression that she was trying to say yes, he smiled and put on some gloves. "Okay, when I say so, cough," he said unlatching some pieces. He started to pull lightly and then he told her to cough, she did as he said and the tube came out with no problems. "I brought you some coffee, but that will probably burn, how about some water?" she nodded and he went around the corner to the water cooler, he got her a cup and came back. 

His heart thumped a little when he saw her sitting on her bed wiping at tears, he walked up with a sympathetic smile and handed the water to her. She took a drink and winced, but she soon got used to the small burn.

"Do you want a pen, or maybe some paper?" she nodded and he got out his steno pad and his pen. He handed the pieces to her and she started to write, "What happened?" she said. "Well uh, you were in an accident. And when you got here they sent you to the operating room, and now here you are. I know that you don't care for small details," he offered a small smile and she nodded. Then she went to write again, "Can I be alone?" she wrote. Carter felt his throat run dry and he looked away. He wanted to stare into her gorgeous eyes but now she wanted him gone, "Yeah, yeah, of course. Just hit the call button if you need anything, do you need any meds or anything?" She shook her head and he looked down at his feet, "Alright," he said clearing his throat and walking out. As soon as he had walked out of the door, she started to cry. She didn't cry from just the accident, but all of the memories of her and Carter had come back and flooded into her mind. She hated the thought of remembering what it was like back when they had broken up; it had wrecked her. She cried from the pain that radiated through her body, and she cried because she hated the fact that she just told him to leave. But he hadn't actually left, he was right outside of her room looking in through the window. 

He was glad he hadn't left, he looked through her window and the second that he saw how distraught she was, he turned on his heel and ran back inside. "Jill, hey what's wrong?" he asked petting her hair and trying to get her to calm down a little. "Everything, my whole body, all of it hurts and I just don't know." Her voice was hoarse and every little time he had dreamt of hearing her, it all hit him like a ton of bricks.

"I'll up your meds, it's okay," He was relieved to hear that it was just physical pain putting her in this state. He fixed her IV to give her more morphine and she was already starting to calm down. She laid back a little so he took that as his cue to leave, but she grabbed his hand. "John, please stay," she whimpered. He smiled a toothy grin and sat down in his chair from before. "If you insist," he teased while he scooted close and went back to petting her head. He could tell she was getting very sleepy and she got the familiar glint in her eye, the one that made them extra glossy when she was sleepy. "Go on, go to sleep," he said trying to soothe her even more.   
After a while she fell asleep and he couldn’t help but stare. He finally decided to leave her alone and went back to the ER. “Where have you been?” Carol asked him. “With a friend,” he said looking for a chart. “Have you thought about it yet?” Doug asked coming around the backside of Carol. Carter looked up, “Thought about what?” “Trying to make things work again, trying to get her to stay,” he said looking up at him. “Why would you-“ “I saw you making coffee in the lounge, you made her a cup, just how she likes it right? And you took it to her, but she couldn’t drink it.” Carter’s lips parted while he thought about what he was just told. “Try to get her back Carter, at least then you can say you tried,” he nodded.   
Now she just had to fall back in love with him.


End file.
